Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

13 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I really enjoyed this book but it wasn't perfect for me. 

This book is vibey and atmospheric, feeling like a gothic classic horror for the majority of the novella. 

The horror ramped up at the end and was grotesque, but the pacing was a bit slow for me leading up to that. I really like this overall length for a horror story though, but I wanted more horror overall. This novella is based off of the short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe and I felt like it elaborated well on the original while adding something new and fresh. I really appreciated the discussion related to a non-binary character and the fictional history associated with that character's backstory, but it didn't have much bearing on the story, if any, so it felt a little irrelevant in such a short novella. I'm hoping that comes into play more in the next book! In general I really enjoyed all the characters and found them interesting and human. 

If you're looking for a horror novella that might creep and gross you out at the very end, with phenomenal writing and interesting characters, this one is for you!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, and Transphobia

Minor: War

bibble_kingly's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Chronic illness, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Confinement

Moderate: Medical trauma, War, and Murder

Minor: Transphobia

hedsek's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I really wanted to like this but I couldn't with the writing style. Why is the main character so annoyingly aware of the (modern) reader? It feels very anachronistic and kind of took me out of the book a few times. I also really did not enjoy the snarky dialogue and all the random stereotyping about different nationalities, which is like 1/3 of the dialogue. There's also a few times where it is super clear what we're supposed to figure out as the reader but the author still pretends it's mysterious only to drop it at the end of a chapter like it's some huge plottwist, especially

the thing with Madeline walking like the hare

. I'll be reading the original story as well, the book did get me curious. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, Suicide, and War

autonomous_lass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Cursing, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The pseudo fantastical nature was foreboding and creepy in a good way, but I'm not a big horror person so I mostly just wanted to get away from the sentient fungi.  I did read the short story it is based on which was predominantly vibes, and I liked this reinterpretation of it more than the original because the characters had much more depth.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Sexism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

warlockdorian's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Murder, and Suicide

mo345's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Terminal illness, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Misogyny, War, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Confinement

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A marvellous retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” with a twist on gender and the destructive aspect of nature upon the human body, this is one of the most spooky books I have read this year. I will never look at hares the same way again. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, War, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Cursing, and Death of parent

Beware of strangulation, possession by parasitic fungus, fungi and mold, deterioration of property mirroring deterioration of the human body, infection, and drowning in pools of water.

sourkiwi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A great short read! I purchased the physical copy because I loved the cover so much. As a fan of EAP, this is an awesome retelling.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Cursing, Gun violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol and Fire/Fire injury

marthadude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really liked this retelling. I think it was an interesting exploration of the original story. The mystery aspect was kind of easy to guess but I didn’t mind that.  It was cool to see the characters figure out what you’ve already put together. I really thought that the way the mysterious aspects of the original were explained was also cool. However I thought the ending was a little anticlimactic and rushed. Overall it was a good short read I’d recommend 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Body horror, Death, Alcohol, and Terminal illness

Minor: Mental illness, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content